Someone told me that with ebf babies you never have to increase the amount of ounces that you feed them that your milk will increase in calories as they get older. Is this true or am I just really gullible?

If it's not true I am going to kick myself because I only bought bottles that hold 5 oz because I believed it. lol

my sons never drank big breastmilk bottles either. When they were 11 months old and I started weaning myself with pumping, I supplemented a feeding or two a day with formula. The formula feedings they wanted 8 ounces but if the next feeding was breastmilk, they would only drink about 5 ounces of the breastmilk

eta: I also liked the bigger bottles too. They were nice for when my boys were learning to hold their own bottle- it was easier for them to hold the big ones

That is absolutely true. Your milk changes for your babies needs. Bf babies rarely take more than 4 oz at a fEed. Completely different than a formula baby. You have to increase the volume of formula in order to increase the nutrient content. Thus formula babies need Higher volume vs a bf baby. Our bodies do amazing things!

I'm so happy I just read this thread, I had the same question. My 11 month old only takes 4-5 oz of breastmilk and when I supplement with formula its the same thing. I really wondered if my dd was getting enough. I'm happy to see other babes eating the same amount.

Check out the sticky on "the benefits of extended breastfeed" because it talks about how breast milk changes as baby gets older and the fat content and protein increases.

For what its worth, my LO never takes more than 2.5 oz per feeding. He is EBF and at one point I was worried he wasn't getting enough (and to explain how ridiculous it is that I was even concerned, my LO was born @ 5 lbs, was nearly 7 lbs by 2 wks, consistently gained nearly 2 lbs a month till about 5 months and then has gained about a lb a month... I was being totally paranoid.... He is 19 lbs at 8 months & never dropped in percentiles... clearly fine ) so I did before/after weights at every feeding to determine how much he was taking per feeding and his total intake for 24 hrs. He took 26.75 oz for the 24 hour period (MORE than plenty - totally explains his tremendous weight gains) and never took more than 2.5 oz at a feeding. Sometimes he'd even take as little as 1/2 oz which made me nervous till I saw the "big picture" and realized that all those "snacks" were adding up to a great amount... Anyway, point is, BF babies don't typically drink large quantities. The lactation consultants all confirmed this to me when I told them what he was taking. They weren't surprised in the least bit! The big bottles are modeled after formula fed babies and even then, it isn't really the way nature intended. Babies have small tummies and they are meant to have small frequent meals (LO eats every 1-2 hours at 8 months) and if you look at tribal communities where all the women breastfeed, they feed their babies as often as every 15-20 minutes! That would blow the mind of a westerner, but there, it is totally normal. We just make our babies adapt to a schedule that suits our needs more, here and babies tend to adapt pretty well so they go along with it (for the most part).

Another interesting point that someone made to me the other day is this: Isn't it funny that we work so hard to get our babies down to several LARGE feedings/meals per day, and then as they become toddlers, the same "experts" telling us to feed less often and give larger amounts, totally back-track and tell us that toddlers need 3 meals a day plus 2-4 snacks?! They were designed to eat small frequent meals so why do we work so hard to change that?